“The meaning of Vietnam”: Political rhetoric as revisionist cultural history

Abstract
Secretary of State George P. Shultz delivered a speech entitled “The Meaning of Vietnam” in April 1985. This essay suggests that Shultz's address provides an excellent case study for examining the rhetorical demands facing a politician offering a revisionist perspective on cultural history, potentially useful strategies for meeting those demands, and an opportunity to see how a troublesome past can be reframed to make it more “useful” in the present.

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